Convert RAR to ZIP
RAR is a proprietary format. Windows cannot open one without extra software, macOS cannot open one at all, and plenty of build tools, upload forms and phone file managers will only accept ZIP. Converting is usually the shortest path to just being able to use what is inside.
This page does a genuine conversion. Each file inside the RAR is decompressed with libarchive's RAR 4 and RAR 5 decoders — compiled to WebAssembly and running in this tab — and then re-compressed with DEFLATE into a newly built ZIP container. Nothing is renamed, and no bytes are copied straight across.
The archive is read by code running in this tab. It is not uploaded, not queued on a server, and not seen by anyone but you — which also means there is no size limit imposed from outside, only what your own device can hold.
- Step 1Drop one or more .rar files below. The format is confirmed from the file's own bytes, not its name.
- Step 2Check the file list: sizes, compression ratio, unsafe paths and encrypted entries are all shown before anything runs.
- Step 3Convert. Each finished ZIP is opened and re-read before it is offered to you.
Drag archives here
.rar— or anything else, and the format will be identified from the file’s own bytes. Files stay on this device.
What this page will not do
Every limit below is a real one, checked against real archives. None of them are upsells — there is no paid tier, and nothing here gets better by signing in.
- Encrypted RAR archives cannot be converted. The WebAssembly build of libarchive used here was compiled without the crypto backend that RAR decryption needs, so a password will not help — this is stated plainly rather than accepting a password and failing later. Decrypt with WinRAR or 7-Zip first.
- Split archives (.part1.rar, .part2.rar and so on) are refused. Joining them would require every volume in memory at once. Rejoin the set with WinRAR or 7-Zip and bring back the single file.
- RAR stores modification times, but the decoder in this build does not expose them. Files in the converted ZIP are dated from when you ran the conversion rather than carrying an invented timestamp.
- Symbolic links inside the RAR are listed but not written into the ZIP. A link only means anything next to the file it points at, and ZIP has no portable way to carry one.
- ZIP has no equivalent of RAR's recovery records or solid-archive dictionary sharing, so a converted ZIP is usually a little larger than the RAR it came from.
If it did not work
“This is one volume of a split archive”
Why: The RAR header says this file is part of a multi-volume set, so most of the data is in sibling files.
Do this: Put every part in one folder, open the first one in WinRAR or 7-Zip, extract, then re-archive as a single file — or bring the extracted files here and use Create ZIP.
“RAR encryption support unavailable”
Why: The archive's headers or contents are AES-encrypted and this engine has no RAR crypto.
Do this: Decrypt it once with WinRAR or 7-Zip. Encrypted ZIP files, by contrast, do work here — password support is real for that format.
Some files converted, others are listed as failed
Why: A damaged entry inside an otherwise readable RAR. Each entry is decoded independently, so one bad file does not sink the rest.
Do this: The ZIP you get contains everything that decoded cleanly. The failure list names each entry that did not and the decoder's reason for it.
The tab became unresponsive or reloaded
Why: The archive expands to more than this device can hold.
Do this: Open the archive first and convert a selection rather than everything, or use a desktop tool for very large sets. The limits page lists the actual byte budgets in use.
Questions
Is the file uploaded anywhere?
No. The conversion runs in this browser tab using WebAssembly. You can confirm it: open your browser's network panel, run a conversion, and you will see the engine being fetched once and nothing else. The site's Content-Security-Policy also restricts connections to its own origin, so a regression could not send your file elsewhere even if the code tried.
Does converting lose quality?
No. Both RAR and ZIP are lossless containers. Every byte of every file that comes out is identical to what went in — that is checked here, not assumed: the finished ZIP is re-read and each entry's size compared before it is offered for download.
Why is the ZIP bigger than the RAR?
RAR's compressor is stronger than DEFLATE, and RAR can share one dictionary across many small files in a solid archive. ZIP compresses each entry independently with DEFLATE. A modest size increase is normal and does not indicate anything went wrong.
Can it handle RAR5?
Yes, and RAR4. The version is detected from the archive signature and both are decoded by libarchive's own RAR readers.